Invest in Yourself

First and foremost, I want to give credit for this philosophy to Robert Kiyosaki. Basically its a fundamental change in the way we should think about money. This single paradigm can determine your future wealth, its that simple. The formula is this... invest in yourself and your assets FIRST no matter what, and then pay off bills and expenses. Take a minute and think about this:

think:think:think:think:think:think:think:think:think:think:think:think:think:think:think:think:

Okay come back. 

The way the average American uses his or her money is all flip flopped. The average person will use their weekly paycheck and use that money to first pay off debt, pay for rent, pay for gas, pay for food, pay for insurance, then if any money is left over, the average person will go to the mall and then buy a new pair of shoes or a new spring jacket. THEN after all of this, the average American will save whatever is left over for future use. This future use we will call "savings" and "assets".

An asset is fairly simple. Its something that you buy, purchase, put away, store away that creates returns. So an easy example would be a stock that pays a dividend (meaning each share you own, the company will give you a certain % of money in return), or a savings account that pays you 1% interest (worst option).  Many believe a car is an asset, however this is wrong. With a car, you always loose value unless its a classic antique or something. Many believe electronics are assets. Im sorry but electronics are not assets, they are money pits. 

SO back to this idea of investing in yourself and your assets first. From each paycheck, prioritize a certain % you will NO matter what set aside even in times of hardship. For example, say you have a weekly paycheck of $500. Make it a priority to invest 10%, so take $50 a week and open an ROTH IRA retirement account, or open an online broker account and buy stocks, buy precious metals, or stuff it in a sock and place it under your bed. Whatever it is, set aside money FIRST.

After investing and saving for YOURSELF, then use the other $450 and begin by paying off your rent, insurance, gas, car payments. If you start to do this, I believe you will slowly begin to see your life change. There will be times when you wont have enough to make a car payment, or fill up your gas tank, but then you will realize maybe you need to change your lifestyle to maintain your savings. Never change your savings plan to accommodate lifestyle habits!  Perhaps you can learn to carpool, or take a bus, or ride a bike. Perhaps its time to sell that nicer car and downgrade to something with better gas mileage and reduce monthly payments. In the meantime your assets will grow at a steady pace and before you know it, your money will begin to work for you instead of the other way around.

Like the top of my page reads, 

"It doesnt matter how much money you have, it matters how much you keep".

Let that quote sink in and really rattle around in your brain for a bit.

My hopes are that this post can change your life. That by simply reading this blog, this post, can change your spending habits. Take charge of your future and invest in yourself first.

Save Money Quick Tip #11

This may be because I love Netflix, but I truly believe that if you are like myself, and cannot live without watching movies, then going with Netflix will save you money. I am sure many of you already have Netflix and know what I am talking about here. For $10 a month (with tax) you can have unlimited streaming to your laptop, Xbox360, PS3, Wii, etc, and then the ability to rent out 1 dvd at a time (pretty much any movie). It sure beats the $3.50 you would pay at BlockBuster for a single film plus late fees.  However, if you normally only watch movies once a month or just head to the theaters, then perhaps $10 a month is not necessary. Either way, hope this helps!

www.netflix.com

Silver and Gold=Money

For those that are new to the Silver and Gold fever, then you better catch on quick. I wont go into detail now, but basically the overall view is this: The dollar is quickly being devalued daily as the FED continues to print U.S. Dollars to buy Treasury Debt. This is increasing the supply of dollars, thus basic economic principles equate this to inflation. Going the opposite direction is Gold and Silver. These precious metals have been the basis of money since the beginning of human history. In all religions Gold and Silver are used for barter and for rituals. If Gold and Silver have been around for thousands of years, it will also stay for thousands of more years. In the past decade, Gold and Silver have been on the rise as investors and countries turn to the safe haven of Gold and Silver as an alternative to the world reserve currency of the U.S. Dollar. 

Today, Gold hits a new all-time high of $1450.85

Silver hits another 31 year high of $39.11

A great way to save money is to go out and buy some physical Gold and Silver at your local coin stores or through online auction sites like Ebay. 

Have a great day everyone.

Thoughts on my Generation

Its hard to grasp monetary issues from the perspective from my generation. My generation consists those who grew up in the 90's watching Power Rangers, Doug, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman, Wishbone, etc. Im talking about the generation that grew up with parents who went through the dot-com bubble, real estate boom, and made a crap ton of money. Im talking about the generation that has gone from work hard for money, to give-me-money. I believe the people in my generation are stuck in a paradigm of "Give me money, so I can spend money". I grew up in the 90's and saw all my friends around me never have to worry about money while I on the other hand did struggle. My family never had a windfall from the growing economy or lump of cash in the bank. Today I am so thankful I learned how to manage my money from a young age, not because I wanted too, but because I had too.  I look around at my friends now and they still receive money from their parents. Their parents pay for their rent, car insurance, phone bills, college tuition and food. Its depressing to watch my friends spend every dollar they earn at the bar and drugs. I believe in generational shifts; let me explain. Those who grew up in the 60's and 70's rebelled and did a whole lot of drugs. Ever wonder why? Its because their parents grew up in the 30's and 40's and experienced war, depression, death and chaos. This brought on the 50's and post war America didn't want to do anything related to war and death. This is why in the 50's we saw the "Little boxes on the hillside". The suburbs took off and those who went through the 30's and 40's now wanted to relax with a martini in hand. Now, the children who grew up with these parents rebelled to the mundane way of life. They saw their parents do nothing except work, drive their Cadillacs, live in their boring homes, and live in a happy-go-lucky way of life. For the teens, this was unbearable and we move on to the next generation. This is why the 60's and 70's was so wild and different from the 50's. The 80's saw lots of political problems and anarchy across many different countries. Which then produced the 90's. The 90's actually was stabilized due in part by better government and growth in the economy. This is when I was born. 1988. For the most part, the 90's was a money making decade and money flowed like honey. Now to get to my point about my generation. Because of this excess growth in wealth, we were spoiled. That's right, as a whole, my generation was spoiled hardcore. Finally we get to 2011. Where those born in the late 80's and 90's are now in their 20's and in college. We have no idea what money is, or how to treat it. This generation is lost when it comes to cash. So where do we go from here? What will the next generation learn from this generation? Well as many fear, a monetary crisis my be looming. Perhaps the next generation will learn from my generation. As for me and my family, I will teach my children the ways of investing, saving, keeping what I earn and passing down not only money but knowledge. So follow me on this journey of life, and keep up with my blog. Let me teach you what I learn as I go along. Im still in college and learning everyday about the world in which I live. I want to help others out there that grew up in the the 90's and feel completely lost on this touchy subject of money.

Have a good day, sorry about the long article.

 (^_^)

Save Money Quick Tip #10

Good morning! Another beautiful day here in Michigan. I know we all find ways to jump start our mornings and the best way for me is to start my day with a cup of coffee. Now even here we can find ways of saving money. Begin by buying coffee beans by the bag and grind and make your own coffee every morning! Instead of spending $2 for a cup of coffee and Starbucks or whatever, make your own pot of coffee. I guarantee savings if you do this! In one week you could save $5, meaning in one month you could save $20, meaning in one year you could save $240. 

Save Money Quick Tip #9

The issue with college students is not the issue of making money. The mid twenties are a great time to start a new job, meet friends, expand our social network and develop money making skills. The issue with college students today is this...Keeping the money that they have earned. This simple paradigm will turn a average college sucker (yes like a sucker fish) into a college student in charge of their hard earned money. I just read a article today from USA today, saying that 37% of those that received a tax refund will spend it all on consumer goods. Only 19% said they would use it to pay off debt. A even smaller % said they would invest it. Here is the issue fellow students! WE MUST LEARN TO KEEP  OUR MONEY AND INVEST IT. The world will tell you that the more "stuff" you have, the "richer" you are. This is FALSE! The key to wealth is the ability to keep the money you earn. So how can we apply this to our lives? The most basic way to begin this new path to saving will be to select a key % to save from each paycheck. Personally my % that I save from each work shift (I work in the restaurant business, taking home tips every night) is roughly 30%. For beginners I recommend saving AT LEAST 10% of your money and putting it aside. If you spend every dollar you make, what will happen if your car breaks down? If you lose your job? If your computer breaks? There are a million different scenarios where having money saved up will save your butt. Going into debt to pay for things is a horrible situation to get into. I feel as though I am ranting now. The main thing I am trying to say is this, stop buying clothes, going out to dinner 4 times a week, buying electronics, and start to save your money. In 10 years where do you want to be? Don't be a sucker, be a WINNER as Charlie Sheen would say. (But don't do drugs like Sheen...Please.)

Save Money Quick Tip #8

Did you know that McDonalds offer $1 drinks no matter what size? If you want fast food, I recommend saving some money and picking up a $1 drink from McDonalds. At Burger King, their large Pepsi is like $1.89. Anyways, just wanted to share this quick tip since I just got back from McDonalds.